Feeling Good Instantly has Never been so Easy!
Everyone needs a little magic up their sleeve for those days when the world seems to be pervaded with nothing but elephant greyness and woe. So here are my Top 5 Mood Shifters, guaranteed to put the spring back in your step within minutes, and have you seeing everything through rose tinted glasses once more!
1) Start a Gratitude Journal
It might seem too simplistic to be true, but whatever emotion we are giving out – be it moping on a Monday, tantrums as the cockerel crows hailing in Tuesday, weeping as our Wednesday morning duvet is whipped from our bedhead, gratitude that the working week is almost at a close on a Thursday, or utter joy by the time we are Thanking Crunchie It’s Friday – just five minutes of counting blessings will turn the day around. Yes, I do mean before it’s even got started! Five minutes of listing things to be thankful for, stuff you love, aspects that are working in your life – you choose, there’s no right or wrong as long as it brings a smile to your face – makes all the difference. Suddenly you’ve got enough momentum going to keep your mind trained on only the positive. And the longer you milk that feeling, the better the results. Things will just magically seem to fall into place. Circumstances, people and events will morph into the amazing things you’ve been waiting a very long time for.
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
Willie Nelson, Singer-Songwriter
2) Sing
Next time you find yourself in the middle of an argument/heated debate/fish wife style outburst at your children, break out into a little Phantom of The Opera, Rihanna, Michael Bublé or whatever the heck takes your fancy. There. Can you just feel the heaviness of it all melting away? Can you imagine your boss’s face as you explain to the tune of The Lion King’s ‘Circle of Life’ that it’s not your fault there has been a recession in Southern Europe, and naturally it will take time for export sales to pick up? Can you see how quickly the children’s messy room will just melt into oblivion once you break into your rendition of ‘Let it Go’ and the little buggers join in? Can you imagine a more entertaining way to turn the frown of the post office clerk upside down than a spontaneous Barber Shop Quartet with fellow queuers to the Friends theme tune? I didn’t think so.
Disclaimer – I am not insinuating that all post office clerks are grumpy. I have met some nice ones.
3) Stop everything
Yes, even that really tedious thing you are doing now which you are being paid for, but it is driving you bonkers. Go on to Pinterest. Or You Tube. Do not leave until you have watched at least five belly-aching videos. Animals, babies, uncles on the dance floor in white loafers at wedding receptions attemtping The Macarena. You know the stuff that makes you smile? Well, that won’t even cut it this time. No, I’m talking rip roaring humour; the kind of laughter that has you wetting your pants, crying and hyper-ventilating all at the same time.
Disclaimer:This is one powerful mood shifting tool. Only go there if you are looking for magical manifestations today.
4) Ask the person nearest to you for an Indian head massage
Even in the post office queue? Damn right in the queue. Can you imagine the effect on the immediate community? Imagine if we all turned around Mexican wave style and dug our fingers (gently) into the hopefully grease-free temples of those paying bills, and trying to make a second income on Ebay. Talk about one mood shifting body of consciousness! Can you see the smiles and hear the laughter from passers-by and spectators? Now can you visualise the ripple effects as each of these people goes about their day in a happy glowing kind of haze, sending out good vibes to all they encounter? And then those recipients do the same, and the next recipients, and the next… It may seem bonkers (and if you’d prefer to do it on the bus, outside the school gates or at the airport check in desk, I’d equally recommend those places too), but it’s one foolproof way of helping everyone chill the bleep out. Not to mention the Ayurvedic health benefits. Which are far too many to list here in a blog.
5) Go to the travel agents and walk out with no less than 10 brochures
Just preferably not all for Club 18-30 or Dom Rep All-Inclusives…
Cut and paste yourself a vision board full of every aspect of your favourite destinations. Look at it for a couple of minutes a day, preferably first thing in the morning. Remember, that’s the best timeframe ‘cos our thinking mind hopefully switched itself off for eight hours overnight and is now a beautifully clean slate waiting to be filled up with our desires. Now go off, enjoy your day and use every opportunity for ‘acting as if’ with life’s little props. Dreaming of a villa break in the rolling Tuscan countryside? Upgrade your coffee, start buying Italian wines from the region, learn to bake Pane Toscano or knock up a sensational Minestrone soup . Learn a little of the lingo, play a little Vivaldi, add a little terracotta to the living room’s palette. The point is there are no limits! Use your imagination here and come up with every which way to physically feel you are there. Regular bouts of daydreaming and play are the keys to this. And then: eyes wide open for the ‘coincidences’ that start to take place.
“In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.”
William S. Burroughs, Writer and Poet
